Crews working to try to make icy roads safer for morning commute



SPANAWAY, Wash. -- The biggest concern for Wednesday morning’s commute around Western Washington and especially the South Sound is the icy road conditions as temperatures dip into the 20s overnight.

Nadine Fleming just started her 12-hour shift at Pierce County Public Works, driving one of the 28 plow and deicer trucks hitting the roads.

She’ll be covering 50 miles of roads across Pierce County.

“It’s dark, we’ve got these things to maneuver around mailboxes, garbage cans, pedestrians, other traffic,” said Fleming.

Her truck doubles as both a plow and deicer.

“Basically, we’ve been out patrolling, waiting for the precipitation to stop and roads to dry enough for us to apply product so we can get something down before the road freezes,” said Fleming.

The snow that hit the South Sound Tuesday made for wet roads, creating the perfect condition for an icy morning commute as temperatures fall below freezing overnight.

“We don’t actually use sand, we use a product called ice slicer, it’s all salt,” said Fleming.

She says they’ll treat the main and most-traveled roads first.

“All the main roads that lead to a main highway, we will be applying product but the back roads and side roads will possibly be icy,” said Fleming.

Fleming says drivers should keep that in mind and give themselves extra time to maneuver the side streets.

Meteorologists say if your neighborhood hasn’t gotten snow, be prepared to get some this week as nearly all of Western Washington will see a little bit of snow at some point this week.